Since That Day
by Soulhates
Summary: There exists a world where everyone sees in black and white until they meet their soulmate. For Sakura, hers came in the form of Sasuke Uchiha, a New Year's Party, and five years of separation until unusual circumstances forced them together again. AU, Sasusaku and others.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1: Personal Space**

The entire weight of the color spectrum came crashing down on Sakura Haruno at a New Year's party.

There definitely had to be a scientific name for the phenomenon, but along with everyone else who didn't have a knack for remembering Latin names, she simply called it "seeing color." Her knowledge of the subject was cumulative throughout the years – tidbits heard from friends, teachers, family – but she only gained an earnest understanding of it last year after having to research the topic for a biology course.

From what a science journal told her, the human eye is theoretically capable of perceiving a wide range of light wave frequencies that result in a countless number of colors. However, a great majority of people are born with impediments that limit the brain's ability to interpret these messages from the eye. Thus, the scope is widely reduced to the commonplace group of colors dubbed "grayscale."

While it varied here to there, some individuals can still see shades beyond that, into ranges called "blues," "reds," etc. That was rare, though, and for the unlucky majority, full potential of the eyes are never reached.

(At this point, she included some images that are supposedly blue and red, but she has only the internet to attest for that.)

That is, unless a person happens to come into contact with a specific pheromone (more Latin names that Sakura forgot the moment she read them), which is capable of altering minor brain chemistry, making message-relaying between the organs better and clearer. That results in... well, a completely different outlook on the world. An escape out the universe of black and white into uncharted territory.

But as with all solutions, it came with its own list of setbacks.

First was how _picky_ the chemical seemed to be about when the body could release it. After years of documented research, a correlation was tentatively found that being in close proximity with a person, a specific, predetermined person, could activate it.

That leads to the question of what criterias those specific people had to match, but no answers could be reached on that ground.

Perfect strangers have bumped elbows on the streets and suddenly found themselves surrounded with all the infamous blues and reds they've heard about. Lifelong friends have had no effects on each other. Males, females, others, it mattered not and was completely random.

Romantics proposed theories that the one who could activate the chemical was your soulmate, but no real proof went behind it.

Some scientists resented that and thought it had more to do with genetics; maybe this selected person was your ideal genetic counterpart, that this was nature telling you which pairings would produce evolutionarily successful offspring.

Sakura wasn't sure which to believe.

But that didn't matter much, as she was able to see little more than the usual grayscale, and this whole pheromone mess happened rare enough that nobody she was close to experienced it. After receiving an A on that project, she quickly forgot all about it. Can't miss something that she has never seen before. The colorists looked like elitists anyway, always bragging about the sparkling blue of water and blinding yellow of the sun or whatever. They have even banded together in online groups to invent new color names. How esoteric.

Then came December 31, when her best friend dragged her to a party a town over. Ino Yamanaka never took no for an answer, and off the two drove in Ino's second-hand car, dim street lights not helping in terms of navigation.

Their total travel time clocked maybe twenty minutes, and Sakura spent it all in a state of anxiety.

Sneaking out wasn't something she usually did, but tonight did call for more drastic measures. It was as much to relieve herself of Ino's pesterings as it was for the actual party. Her friend had constantly bothered her about it at school for a week straight, saying that this opportunity _cannot_ be missed. Some far off connection tipped her off about the event.

Thankfully, sneaking out wasn't difficult, as Grandma Chiyo always went to bed promptly at ten every night, on the dot.

Contrary to what her name implied, Grandma Chiyo was less of a real grandmother and more of an old family friend who took Sakura in when her parents passed. She has been under the old woman's care since her tenth birthday, and their relationship has been relatively pleasant, but running around this late at night would certainly put a damper on it. Even if this _was_ New Year's Eve.

Ino noticed her friend's unease and patted her hand reassuringly while still managing to keep her eyes on the road. "You won't get found out. We'll be back before dawn, so no worries."

"Dawn!" Sakura made a face but nonetheless proceeded to hide her previous unsatisfaction. This was meant to be a happy occasion, so no need to spoil the mood. She made the excuse of, "I was just worried because Grandma Chiyo hasn't been feeling well lately." Which was true, but a blatant digression.

They rode out the rest of the trip in the nice sort of silence while the radio played on. Ino's pale ponytail swished back and forth as she lightly bobbed her head to the music. Sakura looked out the window and stared off into nothingness, mind still overthinking and churning out ways that this escapade could end badly.

What if the house burned down while she was away, and Chiyo died as she lived, engulfed in pillars of smoke? What if she woke up to visit the bathroom and found Sakura's empty bed? How long a grounding would _that _result in? Maybe until her next birthday, when she turns eighteen.

Trying to please both your best friend and your (honorary) grandmother at the same time was damned difficult.

"We're five minutes away," Ino announced with obvious excitement after glancing at the GPS.

The timekeeping continued, "Four... three... two..."

When they finally arrived, their destination didn't disappoint. Even Sakura admitted inwardly that she just might be glad they came.

The music played loudly, but not at a level that the neighbors might complain about, because the nearest neighbors were situated at the ends of the block. Big as the house was by itself – bordering on mansion-sized, but not quite making the cut – all the people streaming in and out augmented the grandiose atmosphere.

A smile lighting up her face, Ino hopped out of the driver's seat and gave herself a once-over. Yes, her outfit was in good shape and her hair in place. Sakura was inclined to do the same. Looking unpresentable at an event like this was certainly undesirable.

The two followed some other newcomers to the front door and entered. Fancy furniture littered with plates of leftover food and cups, along with masses of people, hit them as soon as they stepped foot inside.

"Ino!" Some unfamiliar faces immediately greeted the light-haired girl.

Introductions were briefly made, and Sakura spectated while some more customary exchanges followed. She knew a good amount of people back in Konoha, sure, but outside her town, she was at a loss. This was more Ino's element, diplomacy. A few more minutes were spent speaking before the duo made their way towards the epicenter of the party, which was where the (questionable) snacks and (questionable) drinks were served.

Beforehand, the two friends have decided upon a designated driver, so Sakura steered clear of all the alcohol, which proved a difficult feat as there were practically little else. Maybe those days spent in health class with the teacher shouting "Safety is number one!" have paid off.

She scrounged out a can of soda from a cooler after a great deal of searching and settled for that.

Ino wasted no time dillydallying and plunged into the crowd surrounding the snack tables, full of courage and appetite. She emerged holding a disposable cup of... something and two cupcakes.

Over the loud background music and chattering, Ino struggled to be overheard, "So what do you think?"

"It's impressive."

And right she was, though Sakura didn't really have too high of a standard for parties. She spent some time taking in everything. Out of the hundreds of people that packed the rooms, for there had to be hundreds if not more, she only recognized a handful.

Not deterred and suddenly getting a surge of boldness, probably due to adrenaline from the onslaught of noise, she left Ino's side and began looking around some more. She noticed one of their mutual acquaintances that they both despised and pivoted around, intending to quip to Ino about it, only to find the ponytailed girl already gone. Swept away by the crowd. The boldness then dissolved as soon as it came.

Sakura reminded herself that she wasn't a child left motherless in a grocery store, but it didn't change the fact that she was surrounded by complete strangers with no clue about how to proceed. Many of the people seemed older as well. College age, maybe?

No matter, she told herself. She just has to take an initiative in getting comfortable on her own. She needn't rely on others to lead her around on a leash.

Ino might've been her first friend ever, but she wasn't the only one Sakura could make.

In all the time leading up to midnight, Sakura tried her best in making conversation to ample partakers. Some turned sour, some bored her, and some involved lighthearted flirting that never went anywhere. She then turned to dancing to kill some time, but that can only last for so long. Still no sign of Ino, but Sakura wasn't actively trying to find her anymore. This won't be as bad as she originally thought.

A loud announcement washed over everyone before she had a chance to do more. It was probably done with a megaphone, "_Twenty-five more seconds! Get ready to count!_"

Someone turned down the music immediately, and a hush fell over the atmosphere. In sync, everyone started, "_Twenty, nineteen..._"

Sakura suddenly recalled the tradition of kissing someone when it reached zero.

"._..sixteen, fifteen..._"

There! She finally spotted Ino and her long ponytail, surrounded by a sizable group in the adjacent TV room. This was made much easier as everyone stopped moving all over the place and because her friend was strangely enough, standing atop a sofa, holding a paper cup. Sakura started making her way over.

"._..ten, nine..._"

"Ino!"

Alerted by her name, Ino tried to distinguish the source. Spotting Sakura coming towards her, a wide grin appeared on her face. She stepped down from the furniture and looped an arm around her friend's shoulders.

"_...five, four..._"

Sakura inhaled. The sharp scent of alcohol was rather potent from both the cup and Ino's breath.

"_Three, two, ONE!_ Happy New Year!" The combined shout was deafening as Ino planted a sloppy kiss on Sakura's cheek. Not seconds after, the normal commotion returned, and Sakura found herself being dragged further into the TV room.

With slurred words and flushed cheeks, Ino said to the room of people she was holding court with, "Hello! This is my dear friend, Sakura Haruno. She'll be joining our game of Seven Minutes in Heaven."

"Ino, you're drunk."

"Nonsense." She downed the rest of the contents in her cup and set it on the nearest table, which happened to already hold several empty ones. "Hm, now that you mention it, there is a sliiiiight possibility. But that's irrelevant because you still need to play." Some nods and approval came from the rest of the room. The more the merrier.

"Seriously, maybe you –"

"Hey, you!" Ino pointed to a guy sitting nonchalantly on the couch a little distance off.

He had hair like coal and eyes to match, and appeared to be staring off in another direction, not part of the actual group. She must've thought him to be involved, but his eyes flickered over in annoyance at the burst of noise towards his direction. Which person who dared to intrude so rudely?

In no ways discouraged, but most likely it was the drinks that made her a bit oblivious, Ino continued, "Yeah, you there, Sullen Guy. You can't just sit there and look angry, it ruins the mood. But thanks to the great Ino Yamanaka here –" she pointed at herself "– you'll get a chance to participate in the fun, especially with my dear friend here!" Sakura's palms started to sweat.

A pause as the Sullen Guy's expression grew even more annoyed. "I have no such desires."

"Don't be silly, of _course_ you do." She rolled her eyes as if to say, _can you believe this guy?_ Quickly and firmly, Ino advanced and plucked Sullen Guy up from his sitting position by the arm, him temporarily forgetting to resist out of surprise. He hadn't expected this insane girl to actually come at him, hands and all. With her other hand, she grabbed Sakura by the wrist and pulled them both along. The audience watched the drama unfold with enthralled gazes.

Before neither could free themselves from the great Ino Yamanaka, Sullen Guy was given a shove on his back that made him step into a tight-fitting closet. Sakura followed with an, "Oof!"

Ino must've pushed her friend a bit harder than she intended, because Sakura smacked right into the back of Sullen Guy and fell backwards onto her rear.

"Enjoy. And no coming out before the seven minutes are up!" With a carefree laugh, the closet door was shut on the couple, leaving them in nothing but darkness.

"That friend of yours has a painful grip." He sounded sarcastic.

Sakura was still on the floor, reluctant to make any big movements due to how small a space this was. Who knew what she could end up bumping into next. Nervously, she tittered, "Ha, ha, I'm really sorry about this. When Ino gets one drink too many, she could be a bit unpredictable. Trust me, this is the last situation I'd want to be in." At least she could hide her blush in the dark here.

Sullen Guy (she decided that the name fit him quite well, from the brief glance she caught of him outside) stayed silent for so long that she started to worry. What happened? Had she said something embarrassing?

Just as she was about to pipe up, he said with a more pressing voice, "If you would move aside. You're blocking the door, and I have other matters to attend to."

Oh, oh, so he simply wished to get out and was contemplating an escape option. She didn't make a faux pas after all. "Y-yes, of course."

But as she started to stand up, a sharp pain stung her scalp, and she yelped. Her hair was caught, most likely on one of the coats.

"Is something the matter?" Even when the words conveyed concern, his tone showed but hints of it.

"My hair... it's stuck." Trying to not inconvenience him any longer than necessary, Sakura tried to forcibly tug her hair free and end this quickly. It simply hurt more. "It won't –"

"Don't force it." She heard him move closer and kneel down. After some navigating, cold fingers pried her hands loose from the knot, and he began working on the unruly strands.

She can only imagine how irritated he must be. How horrible a way for them to be introduced. "Sorry."

"Hn, can't be helped. You don't suppose there's a light switch somewhere in here, do you?" He considered his own question. "Nevermind, I wouldn't be able to find it in the dark even if there was one."

While Sullen Guy was focused on the tedious project, Sakura tried to stay motionless and wished her heart wouldn't make this much noise. His steady breathing was quiet but audible. Inconspicuously, or as inconspicuous as possible, she sniffed. It was nice – something woodsy, maybe?

A small, genuine chuckle arose from him, but he didn't comment on what she did.

Sakura's mind worked up a frenzy. _Oh no, did he realize I did that? Maybe I could make the excuse that I almost sneezed, no, that would sound stupid. Okay, okay, I'll just change the subject real quick to make him forget that ever happened._ "S-so you don't look very happy to be here."

"Good, then it reflects how I feel," he said, less on edge than before. "Can you believe it? My uncle dragged me here. Well, Obito's actually younger than I am, so it really defeats the point of being an uncle. But all the same. The whole family was forced to get together for the holidays."

"How old are you?"

"Nineteen." He then tagged on after some second thought, like he'd forgotten initially, "And you?"

Sakura wasn't sure what compelled her to lie, but, "I'll be nineteen in March."

"Hn." They reverted back to silence, and thankfully, Sakura's heart found a normal pace and volume to beat at. A brief moment later, "It's all untangled now."

"Thank you, I –"

The door flew open with surprising force, alarming them both. The outlines of a tall girl shielded the sudden light from burning their eyes, but Sakura held up her arms out of instinct. In an urgent tone, the figure spoke, "You're Sakura, right? Ino said you're in here. You should come quick. She threw up a little and is asking for you."

Finding herself being dragged along _again_, Sakura cruised past onlookers and arrived at the scene of the incident. There was no vomit in sight, only a damp stain on the carpet, which meant they already cleaned it up.

Only... something appeared dramatically off, and yet, nothing did. Ino looked the same as she always had, only utterly embarrassed and a bit disoriented. Nobody's face morphed, and no furniture has been moved, but there was definitely something.

Frowning and becoming disoriented herself, Sakura turned to look in the direction of the closet for Sullen Guy, wanting to ask if he felt it, too, but he was nowhere to be seen.

"Sakura..." Ino's voice brought her back to her senses. "It's pretty late... I think we should head home now."

"Yes, of course." Then it struck. "Yes, of course."

Something told her that she needed to head home immediately and see if there was still a copy of her old biology project lying around.

* * *

On the ride home, Sakura had to promise Ino twice that she'd not speak of the night's incident before she was satisfied enough to promptly fall asleep.

This time, there was no radio, and so the entire twenty minutes were eerily silent, a good way to clear her thoughts. She roused Ino when they reached the Yamanakas' house. After parking in the driveway, the two bid a distracted goodbye, both engaged with their own dilemmas.

Sakura walked the two blocks to her own home and took special care in examining everything she passed by. Rocks, trees, clouds, nothing escaped her notice. Yes, it definitely had to be, but she just needed to make double sure.

Instead of retiring directly to bed when she sneaked back into her room, she booted up her laptop. The bio project was nowhere to be found on the hard drive, but the entire internet was at her disposal, so it didn't prove a problem. A handful of websites later, her suspicions were confirmed. Color, so this was color, which would make Sullen Guy her –

"Dammit." In the heat of the moment, she didn't even think to ask for his name.

**A/N: For Sakura and Ino's relationship, I wanted to make it the way they were before both crushing on Sasuke. As a result, Sakura will start off more subdued and less feisty, but she'll grow into that as the story progresses.**

**Did I explain the science clearly enough? I'd love to hear your thoughts in reviews! :]**


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2: Difficult Situations

**Five years later...**

Without air conditioning in her small apartment, Sakura was woken by the morning's unbearable heat – the kind that made existing itself a problem. She rushed to the bathroom faucet before even putting in any effort to form a coherent thought. The cold water splashed on her face provided temporary relief.

It was only mid-August, yet the sun still refused to yield, which made living unnecessarily difficult.

Days like this did nothing more than increase her yearning for winter, her favorite season. Ah yes, winter. The significantly lower temperatures, the holidays, and best of all, snow.

But sometimes, if she were lucky, all three might combine into one day of paradise. A frigid, snowy Christmas or New Years perhaps.

She poured herself some refrigerated orange juice for breakfast and then paused, knowing where this train of thought was heading towards. It had almost become a game at this point: let's see how many connections she had to make before it relates back to the New Year's party she attended with Ino five years back.

This time, it was easy – hot day, winter is the exact opposite of that, New Years made a home for itself in winter.

Though she thought light of the memories now, she could still vividly recall the weeks that followed the party, when she became so invested in trying to find out Sullen Guy's name that it bordered on obsession.

Oh, Sullen Guy, whose nickname she faithfully kept. A mystery even to this day.

When she had come out of her name search empty-handed, he kept infesting her mind with "what if's." What if they just happened to meet on the streets that day, what would she do? What if he happened to move next door and they become neighbors? What if he called her up one day and asked to meet?

It would be a stretch to say that Sullen Guy had held more intrigue for her seventeen-year-old than the fact that she now had the entire color spectrum at her disposal. After mastering some basic color names, she quickly got used to this new window of vision. Any novelty it previously held were gradually lost as time went on. She soon cannot remember what it was like not to see the blue when she glanced up at the sky, or the pink when she looked at her own hair in the mirror.

Things were only interesting if there was a mystery element involved, which gave Sullen Guy the advantage.

In her mind, he grew to be less of a real person and more of a general _idea_ that she spent time contemplating. It didn't take too long before she was unable to vouch for what his face had looked like or how his voice had sounded.

Some days, she suspected he was a dream she had one night, but the colors alone remained proof of their paths crossing.

That entire phase lasted almost two months before Ino managed to snap her out of it.

Sakura had informed her friend the day after the party exactly what went down, soIno was well aware of all the details and the object of her friend's fixation.

One day, Ino decided that Sakura might have spent a little too long dwelling on questions that cannot be answered and therefore brought her back to reality. She didn't beat around the bush, either, and went ahead in that straightforward way of hers, "Sakura, you're obsessed."

"What?"

"You know what I'm talking about. This Sullen Guy of yours."

"Well technically, you were the one who gave him that name."

"That's irrelevant," Ino made a pout. "My point is that you've talked about that dude nonstop for two months. And you never sound happy while doing it. Just lost." Her signature ponytail bobbed animatedly as she talked.

"I don't," Sakura had protested, not sure if the part about looking lost was true or not.

At this point, Ino had flung an arm around her friend's shoulder. "My friend, what you need to do is forget all those 'what if's' and just live in the present. I mean, the whole color thing you told me about seems cool and all, from what you've told me, but you don't even know the guy. At all. Yet you're still so focused on finding him or something. It's a bit silly. It's not like you owe him anything."

"I..."

Giving Sakura a nod, she continued, "Right, so instead of tormenting yourself about someone you're probably not going to see again, torment yourself on something maybe more relevant. Like prom. Or college."

Satisfied with the talk, Ino moved on to another topic of discussion, but Sakura remained distracted.

Ino's words made a bigger impact than either had expected. Sakura took the time she needed to actually reflect, which led to the realization that, yeah, she _was_ wasting her time. All those imagined scenarios really did mean nothing if they don't ever meet again, and that was all too likely. Her pursuits were futile.

At first, it was difficult to keep her mind off the subject, as thinking about him had almost become habitual.

She did manage to figure out a trick, and that was to silently tell her inner self what Ino said, _live in the present_. It worked wonders, and she was soon looking back as one might look back at an embarrassing, twelve-year-old version of themself.

Sakura did exactly that at the current moment, but only after finishing off the rest of her orange juice. "Gosh, I was so naive back then."

When breakfast was done and over with, she continued onto the next part of her morning routine, her daily email correspondence with Ino.

She booted up her computer.

_Hey Sak,_

_Just got settled in my dorm today and all ready to being a new, brilliant year of education. Can you sense my sarcastic tone?_

_Sure, college has been pretty okay so far. But this year, I actually have to put in some effort. After my less-than-spectacular marks last year, well, my mom told me to step up my game or else. And we all know my mom is serious with her threats. What if she disowns me and gets a dog instead?_

_Classes don't start until tomorrow, but this one professor already gave me a dirty look today on campus. I was walking with a cup of coffee and bumped into this old lady, spilling some on her blouse. Whoops. Off to a great start, I guess. _

_Hope you're doing well. I need to be off – my roommate's taking up more than her fair share of closet space, so I need to demonstrate my dominance and get it back. _

_Wish me luck!_

_Ino_

Sakura chuckled at the anecdotes and felt a pang of jealousy for whomever the roommate was. She sorely missed her friend's antics.

They haven't met face-to-face since the end of their last year in high school, when their individual plans had no choice but to pull them apart. Ino, against her parents' wishes, went on to take a gap year and spent it abroad, traveling internationally. Meanwhile, Sakura elected to attend college straightaway. A relatively good school near Konoha accepted her, though unfortunately with minimum financial aid.

They kept in touch almost every day, except when wifi was spotty at the places Ino visited, and shared their fortunes and troubles whenever they arise. And arise they did.

Ino was bitten by a snake of unnamed breed in Australia about a month into her travels. She survived, thankfully. Not long after, she got into a fight with some French teenagers. Who knew the words for "lower" and "fuck" sounded so similar in that language.

Sakura had originally thought her life was going smoothly – with money being a bit tight here and there, but that was all in the life of a university student. Then Grandma Chiyo became ill.

Very ill indeed.

She was anything but young, so the doctors weren't overly surprised to discover that she developed a heart condition. A cure was not available, but there were means to prolong her life. Though Chiyo firmly objected, Sakura dropped her classes and returned home.

All the treatments racked up quite a bill, as neither had medical insurance, and in all due time, they stopped having much of an effect. Undeterred, Sakura ordered the doctors to keep persisting with whatever they needed to do, no matter the cost. It wasn't the disease that finally did Chiyo in, but rather, a surgery gone wrong.

Little more than two years into adulthood, Sakura was left with no grandmother, an incomplete college education, and enough debt to suffocate.

Because Chiyo had no other known relatives, the assets she had were left to Sakura, who used it to make a small dent into the medical bills.

She guiltily admitted to herself that she grieved for perhaps less time than customary, but the speed of the world tugged, no, _forced_ her along. There literally was no time to grieve. In fact, spare time became dearth as well, ever since she abandoned the thought of school for the moment and took on several part-time jobs that compensated little. She later moved into a small apartment to conserve even more money.

Now, three years later, she still lived in the same apartment but was faring considerably better. Her debt payments were nearing the end (four months left at most), she made friends with some of the residents in her building (like a girl named Tenten who had an odd thing for collecting old weapons), and held just one full-time position at a private antique shop. She finally had something akin to a social life and leisure.

Did she also forget to mention that she has been working up enough courage to ask out her hairdresser?

Well, he wasn't really _her_ hairdresser, per se. Just _a_ hairdresser whom she requests every time she visits the salon.

His name was Kiba Inuzuka and had hair and eyes like chestnuts. They haven't officially spoken for over two months, since her last visit to get a trim. However, the place he worked at was conveniently close to the antique shop, which meant she caught glimpses of him every time she went to and from her job.

Though Sakura learned to be extremely frugal over the years from always having limited pocket money to spend, this was the only area she did not skimp on. And her hair really did need work, which meant a visit was overdue, for preferably today.

She walked the twenty minutes to the center of town, not very willing to dole out a whole lot for bus fares, and paused at the entrance to the salon.

The humidity was not working favors for how she looked, but it was too late to worry about that now.

Akamaru, a dog that made his home in the salon, was the first to greet her when she entered. He reminded her greatly of cereal in milk, brown spots surrounded by white.

Kiba looked up from his work on another customer, and Sakura blushed at being the object of his gaze.

"Hey!" He greeted her with a grin. "Hold on just a sec; I'm close to being done here."

Nodding, Sakura bent down and gave Akamaru a big pat on the head. She stood back up after he ran off to greet another customer who just opened the door. There were other hairdressers around, too, like this one girl who almost never spoke above a whisper. But they knew Sakura always asked for Kiba, so they let her be.

Glancing at a clock on the wall, she found that there was still an hour left until she was due at work, so waiting was not a problem.

To occupy herself in the waiting chairs, she looked at a selection of worn novels they left sprawled out on a desk. She spotted one of her favorites, one titled _Color Theory_ that came out the year she turned eighteen. Snatching it up eagerly, she examined the bland design on the cover and thought how much it belied the actual contents. She started a third rereading.

Things were just picking up when a voice interrupted, "Good book?"

Sakura stopped herself from jumping in surprise and looked up to find Keeba peering down at her with those chestnut eyes. Another blush must surely be making itself known. "A-ah, yes."

"Cool," Easily as ever, he asked, "Do you need a wash?"

"My hair? Oh, yes, sure." Sakura firmly told herself to snap out of it.

"This way." He led her to the hair washing stations and waited until she made herself comfortable and closed her eyes.

There really was no accurate way to describe how it felt, having your hair washed professionally. Much like describing the way colors appear, words fail to pin it down. A small sigh escaped her mouth.

"So what's it about? The book, I mean," Kiba's voice rang through her calm. "I've seen it on bestseller lists and everything. People keep telling me to read it."

Sakura resisted the urge to open her eyes, for fear that shampoo would sting them, and said, "Lots of things, but it focuses on the two main characters who are actually pretty horrible people, when you think about it."

"Oh?"

"Just be warned, it ends on a bit of a cliffhanger. It's been about four years since it came out, but still no sequel."

"Guess I'll pass on that, then. So, how has your friend been doing? What was her name – Ino?"

They moved on to more topics of conversation, and thankfully, Sakura's flustered demeanor gradually went away. When it actually came to the hair-cutting stage, she asked for it to be trimmed to just slightly below her shoulders.

Kiba was almost done telling a small story about Akamaru when a ruckus began at the entrance.

A slightly pissed-off guy was being pulled in by a much more cheerful friend who had hair like sunflowers. The former was saying, "Why are you dragging me along if you're the only one who needs a haircut?"

"Because you need to stop moping around so much. And don't flatter yourself, your own hair resembles the butt a duck." The sunflowers one then looked around the salon and called out towards the one really quiet hairdresser, "Hey Hinata! Would you mind taking a look?"

Sakura rolled her eyes at the loud duo and turned her head back to face the mirror.

"Heh, poor Hinata. They're a handful alright. Can't imagine why they're friends, him being so different." Kiba sounded amused as he talked to himself. A few minutes later, "You're all done. What do you think? Satisfactory?"

Examining her hair in the mirror closely, she said honestly, "Yes, it's great, as always."

"Glad to hear it." Kiba smiled. He really did have nice teeth. Before she had a chance to say anything, like if he wanted to have some coffee together later or something, he started walking off. "Gotta make sure those two aren't causing anymore trouble. Have a good day, Sakura."

With words still stuck in her throat, Sakura's eyes lingered on his lineament for longer than necessary. She quickly whirled around to face the door after she noticed her frigidly-kept pose, previous resolve ruined. Surely she can't run up to him again now, the opportunity having been lost.

She walked to the antique shop spewing blame on the sunflowers man and his angry friend.

Shizune, the woman who owned the shop, could be usually counted on to provide advice on such matters, but she seemed to be missing her usual chipper personality , she barely exchanged a single word with Sakura and spent the day on her phone, arguing with multiple people.

The antique business was not a busy one, so only a few customers streamed in throughout the entirety of Sakura's shift, one of whom was a regular. They usually browsed around the shelves and left with one or two items. Nothing out of the ordinary.

At around closing time, Shizune called Sakura to her cramped office in the back.

Sakura began with a report of the day, "The register's all cleaned up, the sales are calculated. I also reorganized some of the shelves, since people kept moving all the stuff around."

"Good, good." Shizune nodded, but didn't say anything else.

A stretch of silence followed with Sakura standing in front of the desk the whole time. Her boss didn't look like she was going to speed up the conversation, so Sakura prompted, "What is it you wanted to talk with me about?"

"Oh, right. I do hate to be the bearer of bad news..." Shizune was fidgeting with a pen on her desk. "... but this shop will be closed down in two weeks."

"Wait –"

The woman held up a hand, "Let me explain. I took over this for my uncle when he died a few years back, but the financial situation has been going down the drains ever since. I've tried my best to keep it going – and to hire good employees like you – but you know how big the antique market is, here in Konoha?"

"Not very?"

"Exactly." She sighed dejectedly. "For a long time now, the store's been sucking out more from the bank than it's putting in. You've seen some of the bookkeeping. So, as a last resort, I've decided to sell the place, and I just found a buyer this afternoon who wants to renovate the place and offer massages or whatever it is. Which means I won't have a job to offer you, two weeks from now."

"Oh."

"I'm sorry." And she was.

"I understand." Sakura gave a tight smile, bade goodbye, and returned to her home all in a bit of a daze where time turned viscous. A lot to email Ino about today.

**A/N: Hm, this really tested my skills at writing transitions. Anyways, I know Sasuke only made a cameo here, but the two will actually speak with each other in the next chapter, and more things shall be explained. His appearance seems to be a bit random in this chapter, but stuff will be coming together soon.**

**Thanks for reading, and I hope you'll leave a review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3: Machiavellian**

"Uzumaki Naruto, what is the meaning of this?" Sasuke Uchiha stated in a no-nonsense voice and shoved a page of the previous day's newspaper into the aforementioned Naruto's face.

"Well, it's the _Konoha Daily_, if you really don't know." Naruto leaned back in his chair, not taken aback by his neighbor's intrusion. They both lived on the same floor of a condominium, and it wasn't rare for one of them to barge into another's home without warning. Besides, he really did see this coming. "If you want me to be more specific, I'm gonna say that it's the 'help wanted' section."

"Bingo." Folding his arms, Sasuke continued, "I also find it really odd that there's an ad on here in my name when I don't recall putting up such a thing. Funny, wouldn't you say?"

Nodding innocently, Naruto said, "Very."

Sasuke knew at this point that he wasn't going to get anything out of Naruto unless he pushed for it. "Cut the crap and tell me why you did this."

Without further play-acting, Naruto dropped the act and pleaded guilty. "If you're accusing me of putting the ad up, then you are absolutely correct. Well done, Detective Uchiha! But there is a perfectly reasonable explanation."

"Hn. Maybe you could've explained earlier – like before you bought a quarter of a page on the _Daily_," A scowl was etched on his face. "And I only found out today because I kept getting calls from strangers about 'that housekeeping position you advertised about on the paper.' So yes, do explain."

There was a plate lying right in front of Naruto with two cookies left, most likely his breakfast, as his eating habits do not scream healthy. He picked one up, the chocolate chip kind, and stuffed the entire thing in his mouth. Sasuke watched with a mixture of fascination and impatience.

While chewing, Naruto started to speak, "This is payback, Sasuke."

"Payback?"

"Yes, for when you condemned my pranking as nothing more than 'stupidly fooling around' the other day. No one insults my art form and gets away with it." Naruto smiled, satisfied. "So how do you like them apples?"

As Naruto reached for the last cookie on the plate, Sasuke swooped in and swiped it, taking a large bite out of the pastry himself. One or two chews later, the Uchiha rushed to the kitchen and upchucked the cookie into the wastebasket. He had on an undignified grimace, "How do you stand this food? It's disgusting."

Meanwhile, Naruto was enjoying every second of this. He exclaimed, "Maybe the universe is being extra kind to me today and gave me two payback chances."

It would be near impossible for someone to regain their former intimidation after such a scene, but Sasuke Uchiha was a person to defy impossibilities. Adopting his scowl from before, he said with some smugness, "I arranged an interview time for every single applicant who called."

"Huh?" _What's he up to?_

"You're going to sit with me through every single one of them, no matter how painful it gets."

"Wait –"

"You really aren't as sneaky as you might believe." Then mimicking his friend tone from before, Sasuke said, "This is payback, Naruto."

...

Though there was still a week left before she was officially out of a job, Sakura has been diligently searching for a new one every free moment she had.

She has had experience working in minimum wage positions before, and the terribly rude customers deterred her from going on that route again. Besides, having higher standards for her work environment wasn't such an unreasonable thing, but it did limit her options.

Especially since all the schooling she has was one year at a local university.

Cursing her inadequate qualifications, Sakura wondered how was it that she stumbled upon a job at Shizune's antique shop. It wasn't the best place to work at by far, but Shizune _was_ one of the nicest bosses she has met so far, and the pay was comfortable. However, she sincerely doubted that such a stroke of luck would come to her again in such short a span of time.

She voiced her complaints to Ino during one of their Skype calls.

"Sorry, Sakura, but I can't offer much help on this area." Ino was sitting outside en plein air, and the sunny backdrop made her hair look like finely-spun strands of gold. She tilted her head in thought. "My best call would be to just go around and ask your friends, see if they know any job openings. You have to use your connections, like that hairdresser dude you talk so much about. What about your neighbors? They might know some as well."

"Right, but there's no guarantee, which is what I'm so anxious about. The jobs they come up with might not be a good fit, either."

"Yes, but when you're at such a disadvantage, you can't dictate quality. Sometimes, we just need to make do. Terrible, I know."

"Look at you being all wise and philosophical." Sakura cracked a smile.

"This year at college has changed me." Ino clutched at her heart and feigned an overly dramatic gasp of pain. "Speaking of college life, you would not believe what's happening. Remember the one lady professor, the one that I spilled coffee on? On the first day, I think."

Sakura nodded.

"Right, well it turns out she teaches the psych class I'm taking. So I'm probably screwed for the whole year. Completely and utterly."

"I'm sure it's not that bad. Just a coffee accident, happens to everyone."

Shaking her head, the golden-haired woman despaired, "She gave me the evil eye when I first walked into that class, so not a great start. And I've already failed the first pop quiz, so that's not a great start, either."

"Like you said, 'we just need to make do sometimes.'"

"Yes, you're completely right – or is it myself that right? Either way. But even though I can give advice, I'm terrible at following it. My worst fear is I'll get so hot-headed one day that I just suddenly feel this irresistible urge to curse her out. Can you imagine?" That drew a laugh, and Ino shook her head at the imagery. "Me just going off on the professor, swear words and all."

"Quite a picture." Though it wouldn't surprise Sakura if something exactly like that went done. "And sorry to say, but my computer battery's running low, so I need to run and look for the charger before this thing completely dies on me."

"I wish you luck on your perilous quest." They exchanged quick goodbyes and ended the video call.

It took her a while, but she did find the charger under the couch cushions (God knows how it ended up there), and she prepared a light snack in compensation for all that spent energy.

She stewed over what Ino said while she ate. The part about asking around her friend circle was logical, but she was reluctant about the "making do" part. If something was unsatisfactory, passively making do wouldn't accomplish much. But if her job hunt continued to fail, then she might have no choice but to make do if she wanted to make the next debt payment on time.

"Agh," she groaned in frustration.

But as pure complaining yielded little results, she got right back to work. The first person she'll ask about potential job openings is her neighbor Tenten, the weapons enthusiast. She seemed like someone who knew things.

After a few raps on the door, the girl opened up, her hair tied up into two messy buns. "Hey there, Sakura, what's the occasion?'

Sakura explained her request, to which Tenten apologized with, "Sorry, but the only thing I can think of right now at this one restaurant my boyfriend works part-time at. It's pretty new, the place."

"Thanks," Sakura said, shielding her disappointment that her previous concern about quality is being addressed right now.

"– But you can always check online, you know? Or the help-wanted section on the local paper. I've done a couple of odd jobs on there, and some pay pretty well."

She could work with that. Much more lively, Sakura thanked her neighbor again and returned back to her own apartment to grab some loose change. How much did the _Konoha Daily _cost again? Can't be more than fifty cents.

Thankfully, there was a stall right down her street that sold the paper. She bought a copy and came back, filled with some high hopes. How could she not thought of this earlier?With a notepad and a pen, she weeded out the ones that sound promising. For some, she was on the fence about – like a housekeeping position offered by someone named Sasuke Uchiha – but decided it wouldn't hurt to try calling.

By the end of the hour, she had an expansive list of temporary positions that she was interested in. Her list thinned down after she phoned them all, as some have already been filled while others, she discarded for personal preferences.

For the next few days forth, her schedule will be filled to the brim with interviews, the last one being the housekeeping job she was ambivalent about.

Feeling accomplished, she retained a small spring in her step for the rest of the day.

...

"God, this is exhausting." Sakura growled to herself.

After the recent grueling days full of questioning, questioning, and more questioning, she thanked the high heavens that today marked the last interview session.

She should've expected there to be difficulties, of course, but that doesn't forfeit her right to be fed up. The only solaces she found, out of these past few straining days, were telling herself to think of all the money she'll be making and also poking fun at some of the interviewers over email with Ino.

There had been one man who had a bobblehead of himself on this work desk, so that was extremely amusing. Another old lady also smelled potently of licorice (a food Sakura despised), so Sakura had been forced to maintain strict control over her gag reflexes the whole time. Needless to say, she ran out into the fresh air outside first chance she had.

The interviews also produced less success than she hoped. Some of the employers simply rubbed her the wrong way, not literally, while others clashed with her personality.

There was one owner of a ramen shop who appeared nice enough though, so she was putting her hopes on that one.

Meanwhile, she must drag herself to where this Sasuke uchiha person lived and withstand one last interrogation, however bone-tired she might be.

He lived in a condominium that was located in a comparatively wealthy neighborhood. It stood at the very edge of Konoha, teetering a bit into the next town over, so she couldn't possibly walk there. After dressing in a nice shirt, Sakura forked over some cash for a bus ticket, grumbling about the ridiculous cost along the way. The ride lasted fifteen minutes, so she had some time to prepare answers to potential questions.

Once she arrived, she had to double-check the address to make certain that this was the place, for the building looked more like a classy hotel. People who put poodles in handbags probably lived there.

"Must be nice," Sakura commented, not without some envy and curtness.

The lobby was designed with care and was very... geometric. All the furniture had sharp edges and shapes, which created some nice contrasts, and as with most rooms, almost everything was in some form of grayscale. The only splashes of color came in the form of a small plant in the corner.

"Hey, you there, could you please stand still a moment?" A foreign voice interrupted her sightseeing.

"Eh?" Sakura turned to the source and found a man sitting on one of the couches, a sketchpad and pencil in hand. His skin was so pale and hair so dark that he blended right into the color scheme of the walls and furniture. Surely that complexion couldn't be natural.

"Ah, yes, just like that. Stay still." He started to scrutinize her figure and then began to sketch furiously.

"Are you drawing me?" Sakura wasn't sure whether to be flattered or alarmed.

Matter-of-factly, the man said, "Yes, you have a very nice shoulder to hip ratio, and I would like to document that down for reference's sake."

"Thank... you?"

"You're certainly welcome." Glancing up from the paper, he narrowed his eyes for focus. "Although to be honest, your face isn't something to marvel at. Forehead's a bit too large for the rest of your features and messes up the proportions."

"I –" Sakura briefly debated whether to hit this man right in his pompous face or not, temper augmented by her stress these past few days. Ultimately, she decided upon the negative as he was probably rich, and rich people often sued those who attack them.

Instead of reacting, the man turned back to his drawing. A moment later, he seemed to realize that she was still gawking at him. "You may continue with whatever you were doing before, you know?"

"I –" Sakura started a biting remark, but it fell on deaf ears. He was too consumed with his precious picture to notice. With a huff and some thoughts about violence again, Sakura contained herself and asked with clenched teeth, "Do you happen to know where I can find room C3?"

"C3?" He looked up again. "Oh, that'd be Sasuke Uchiha. Third floor on the right. You'll see it."

"Thank you," Sakura smiled an overly sweet smile and turned to locate the elevator (Woah! There was even an elevator!) All along the way up, she muttered things about "snobby artists and their big egos." C3 was as obvious as the man made it out to be, and she knocked on the door a bit louder than needed.

It took a few seconds before someone came to open the door.

Him! The one with the sunflower hair she saw before at the salon. Except now, the sunflower was trimmed shorter, but she was certain this was the same person. "I'm Sakura Haruno. Here for the interview."

"Oh yeah, this way," he didn't seem to recognize her.

"Are – are you Sasuke Uchiha?" Sakura asked and followed him into the living room, but her attention was immediately stolen by the walls.

They were green, like the forest. A rich color that spanned all four sides, with some colored furniture around as well. In all her life, Sakura has never been in a room with walls other than white or some type of gray. Some goes for furniture, unless they were made with some natural material like wood.

As with antiques, the market for colored objects was very, very small. Most companies, be it clothes, furniture, or anything else, don't deem it worthwhile or profitable to actually make products that vary in color. Logical, as pretty much all their customers don't really care about that aspect when purchasing something, seeing as it makes little difference to them. Usually, if someone wants to actually see some color, they can just step outside and do so there.

So after a life accustomed to the most minimal of shades indoors, it came to Sakura as quite a shock to find the green, the overwhelming green.

The sunflowers man didn't notice her fascination with the room and went on to introduce himself. "I'm actually Naruto Uzumaki. Sasuke's right over there – hey, Sasuke! Get your butt over! Our last interviewee is here!"

Another figure rose from a chair by the dining room table and turned to the duo. He had on the type of look that told others he was purposefully trying to agitate someone. "Having fun, Naruto? The last woman we interviewed did appear to have quite a crush on you."

"Ha, ha. Ha."

Sasuke finally turned his attention to Sakura and considered her. With dark eyes that absorbed all light and reflected none, he said indifferently, "If you would sit by the table, we can begin."

Sakura did as he asked, and he sat down opposite of her with Naruto adjacent. Curious, she asked, "Are you two, ah..."

"Roommates?" Naruto filled in the blank for her, albeit incorrectly, then scoffed. "Nope, there'd have to be an apocalypse before I room with this guy. I live right next door and am here for, um, moral support."

"Right, moral support." Sakura nodded and shifted her eyes to Sasuke. Now, he was the only one whose opinion really mattered if she wished to be hired. She was startled to see him with an odd expression, like he was confused and had tasted a lemon at the same time. Was he noticing her forehead? Was the artist guy down in the lobby right after all?

Naruto noticed as well, but he acted like it was nothing out of the ordinary, saying, "What? Is it her voice that bad of a color?"

Sakura cocked her head, not sure that she heard correctly, "Excuse me? My voice?"

"Oh yeah," Naruto rolled his eyes. "Sasuke says that apparently, different people's voices make him see different colors or something, and he bases first impressions off of that. Pretty stupid if you ask me."

"But then again, no one did ask you," Sasuke said, his odd expression gone quickly as it came. "But if you're curious, Naruto, your voice is a hideous puke green."

The news that this Sasuke Uchiha can see colors in general came as no surprise to Sakura, as evidenced by the green of the room. But in voices? That was a strange one.

"Too bad I have no idea what you're talking about," countered Naruto. "Green, puke green, makes no difference to me."

Sakura didn't mind the squabbling, as it gave her more time to take note her surroundings and get to know this Sasuke Uchiha better. However, she had to consciously force her eyes away from the massive presence of the green walls before taking in the rest of the place.

Brown couches, silver lamps, a collection of mismatched chairs, a large poster on the wall that listed all the different synonyms for the word "said." There were also some papers strewn about on the floor, but she didn't want to draw attention in an effort to read what was written on them.

Not that Sakura was a feng shui connoisseur or anything of the sort, but if she saw someone like Sasuke Uchiha on the streets and had to design a room for them – this would be the last thing she comes up with.

Echoing her exact sentiments, Naruto Uzumaki leaned towards her and said, "I know right? I was surprised, too, when I found out Sasuke was such a messy person."

"Not messy, exactly." It wouldn't benefit her to insult a potential employer's home. "Just a bit, ah, inconsistent."

"Which sounds like a roundabout way to say messy," Sasuke cut in, not particularly amused or insulted. "But I'd like to think of it as a calculated mess, with some aesthetic qualities to it."

"Puh-lease," Naruto laughed. "A mess is a mess."

"It's an intoxicating type of mess," Sakura shrugged.

"Oh?" Sasuke raised an eyebrow and wrote something down on the piece of paper in front of him.

Was that a good sign or not? She hoped so. "The colors, I mean. I've never been in a green room like this before, so I feel like it's attacking my senses, but in a good way." Good, now he'll know she could see color as well, which gives them something in common. That should make her seem more likeable and approachable.

She got a better reaction from Naruto than Sasuke.

The sunflower-haired man's eyes grew wide. "Wait, you mean the walls actually _are_ green? I always just thought he was pulling my leg by saying that. Gaah, now I feel left out of this exclusive color club of yours."

His friend maintained a straight face as he quipped, "Please, save your emotional lamenting for a later date, or it might be next week before we'll finally be finished with this interview."

"Oh you are just a riot today, Sasuke!" Naruto slapped his knee, voice laced with sarcasm. He then saw Sakura watching their back-and-forth with interest and realized how they must've looked. Putting on a serious face, he said, "Right, interview. First question, Miss Haruno: how much tolerance do you have for annoying, pretentious idiots like Mr. Uchiha here?"

"_I swear_," Sasuke muttered under his breath. After throwing Naruto a dirty look, he cleared his throat and asked, "So what are your reasons for wanting this job?"

"I need the money."

Oh no, did she actually say that out loud? All this informal bickering between the Sasuke and Naruto probably wore away at her professional composure, making her more at ease than she should be, and this just slipped out. Sure, she _thought_ it every time a version of the question was asked, but actually saying it out loud was a completely different matter.

God, now the Naruto guy's holding in a laugh. Definitely not good. They'll think she's disreputable and, and...

She needed to fix her mistake quickly.

Sakura casted her eyes downwards and pretended to let trouble cloud her eyes. "It's just that... I've been laid off my previous job at an antique shop due to the business going bankrupt. Now I have no source of income but still have debts piling up. My landlord also said he'll be evicting me in five days' time for being a few months behind on rent. Then I'd have nowhere to stay."

Some truth mixed into a sob story, perfect. Her eyes misted up for special effects as well, though she wondered if it was a touch too much.

Emotional manipulation didn't make her feel so great, but she did play off the money comment, right? And if she does happen to get the job, a little white lie won't matter. The end will justify the means. Right?

Naruto appeared to be very affected by her story, and Sasuke had his brows furrowed as well. "I see. That's... unfortunate."

So it worked, they believed her. She swallowed a sigh of relief.

Sasuke went on to ask several more questions, all very standard, though he tone did sound softer. Naruto also refrained from making any more snarky comments throughout it all. She did not meet their eyes.

At its close, Sakura stood up and shook hands with both of them. Naruto pumped her hand warmly, like they were already close friends. Sasuke's grip was more loose, like he was doing it only out of courtesy, but then again, she could be wrong.

"I will call you after a decision has been made," Sasuke said after she was shown to the door.

"I look forward to it." They part.

**A/N: School has been annoyingly time-consuming lately. :/ Anyways, I hope I explained the dynamics of their world better, with the lack of color and all. And Sai really is so much fun to write.**

**Please review!**


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